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I met the kitchen towels of my dreams, the best kitchen towels I have ever used and ever will use, on the first day I set foot in a restaurant kitchen. It was a classic meet-cute. They were unassuming in their simplicity—100% cotton, a soft white with a distinctive herringbone weave and snappy blue stripe. They weren’t like those other tea towels from back home, those awkwardly large, overly thick, hopelessly linty decorative towels that sported pumpkins in the fall, tulips in the spring. Those towels were for show, mere accessories for the oven handle. But these ultra-absorbent Zeppoli kitchen towels were more akin to flour sack towels, and they’re everything I’d ever wanted from a kitchen towel and more. I’d fallen hard.
Zeppoli Classic Kitchen Towels These towels look, feel, and function like the ones preferred by most chefs in professional kitchens. They’re sturdy enough to take heavy use and thick enough to wrap around a hot pan handle.
They’re simply the best. Better than all the rest.
Zeppoli cotton kitchen towels are the apex of high-quality towel functionality. They’re super absorbent and quick-drying, perfect for cleaning up messes and splatters at a moment’s notice. Like magic, the long-lasting fibers get more absorbent after a few spins through the washing machine. They’re the ideal size and weight for cleaning cloths: light enough to air-dry quickly, but with enough surface area to handle spills. Because the flat weave towels are lint-free and don’t shed, they also make the best dish towels, so you can dry your glasses without leaving loose threads all over your clean glassware. And no lint means you can sub them in for paper towels when a recipe calls for pressing the water out of tofu or patting dry slices of salted squash (since we’re all about reusable alternatives). You can even use them in place of your oven mitts—which are likely past their prime—just fold them into quarters or eighths when it’s time to handle a hot pan. They come in many different colors, including solid black and rainbow pastel, but we’re partial to the classic white with blue or red stripes. They’re everything you need and nothing you don’t, which is exactly why they’re a top pick for pro cooks and BA staffers.
Don’t I know you from somewhere?
Even if you’ve never worked in a restaurant kitchen and had the distinct pleasure of starting your shift with a clean stack of these towels on your station, you’ve probably encountered them before. You know that rustic-chic, no-tablecloths, fine-casual type of restaurant? The one with vintage bric-a-brac on the walls and chicken liver mousse on the menu? Can you picture the napkin that’s on the table, right beneath the Duralex water glass? That’s right: Some version of the same single-striped kitchen towels I’ve been describing. I’m not saying your dining table should cosplay as a late aughts farm-to-table restaurant, but I am saying that this machine-washable towel set is lightweight and handsome enough to do double duty as the cloth napkins you have always thought about buying but never got around to. Very French bistro.
So if you buy yourself a set of these, not only will you have solved your dishcloth/kitchen towel problem, but you’ll also have morphed into the type of person who has matching napkins for a dinner party. TWO. FOR. ONE. BABY. That’s versatility. Listen: You have a combination phone case and wallet, because you’ve only got so many pockets, and cargo shorts are not coming back, no matter what your cousin thinks. (Editor’s note: This piece was originally published in 2018. We regret to inform you that cargo shorts are back.) You buy combination moisturizer and sunscreen because why have two bottles when one will do the trick? So why buy kitchen towels and cloth napkins separately when there exists a product that (1) serves both functions extremely well, (2) is reasonably chic, and (3) costs less than $2?
5 Ways Kitchen Towels Make Cooking Easier
FAQ
What towels to use while cooking?
Why do chefs use towels instead of oven mitts?
What is the best material for kitchen towels?
What is a chef towel?
What kind of towels do chefs use?
The majority of our samples were made from 100% cotton, which is most widely used for dish towels, but we also included microfiber, linen, and linen-blended towels. These towels look, feel, and function like the ones preferred by most chefs in professional kitchens.
What kind of towels do you use in a kitchen?
We purchased 11 popular kitchen towels, including fluffy terry, bar mops, flour sack towels, and cloth-style towels you see in professional kitchens, dual-sided and more, across brands and price points. We washed them, then tried them out on plates, pots, wine glasses and utensils multiple times over several weeks.
What is the best material for dish towels?
Dish towels are mainly used to dry dishes and clean up the kitchen. This means that you would need a very durable and absorbent material. The best material we would recommend for dishtowels is tightly woven cotton. Cotton is naturally extremely absorbent meaning it will get the job done in seconds.
Can a dish towel be used for cooking?
The phrase “dish towel” is often used interchangeably with “kitchen towel,” and for good reason: they’re truly multipurpose. Spend a couple of hours cooking, and you’ll quickly realize you can use a dish towel for much more than just drying dinner plates.